Frostbitten
by wildblues
Summary: Opening a box, she found her mother’s old sewing machine, dusty but still usable, with a few scraps of fabric left over. They were dusty and old, but would serve as excellent materials for gloves for her sister’s frozen paws.


**Title:** Frostbitten  
**Fandom:** Animal Crossing  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings:** None  
**Pairings:** None  
**Finished:** Yes

**Comments**: I was playing AC:WW today and I spoke to Sable. She told a story about the first thing she made with a sewing machine - a pair of oversized gloves for a frostbitten Mabel! It just SCREAMED fanfiction at me!

----

The wind howled outside, blowing snow off every which way off the cliffs and into the valley below. All the animals had retreated to the safety of their little homes, but they didn't prove to be that much of a help, for the blizzard paid the houses no mercy. One small house by the river creaked and groaned in anguish as the wind battered against it relentlessly, whipping the snow into its cracks and causing the shutters to clack against the sides of the house.

"It's so cold! I-I can't feel them anymore, Sable!"

Mabel sat by the fireplace in an old blue chair, rubbing her paws together feverishly in hopes of getting them warm again. Her quills were speckled with snow, having been outdoors moments earlier to try and fix the shutters.

"Here, let me see them," Sable's soft voice drifted in from the hallway, and she padded into the room quietly and kneeled in front of the chair. Turning over Mabel's paws in her own, she clicked her tongue in pity, "they look a bit frostbitten…"

"What? Oh no, they're going to have to chop them off, aren't they?" Mabel cried, pulling her paws from her sister's grip immediately and held them in front of her face. "How am I going to—"

"No, they're not going to chop it off, Mabel," Sable said. She smiled, "We're just going to have to warm them up again! It won't be so bad."

"Well, they feel bad…"

"Come on, I'll figure something out," Sable said, and she stood up and walked out of the room, Mabel close behind her. She entered a room in the basement to look for some mittens, but her search was without results. Opening a box, she found her mother's old sewing machine, dusty but still usable, and a few scraps of fabric left over. They were dusty and old, but would serve as excellent materials for gloves for her sister's frozen paws.

So Sable grabbed the box and set to the difficult task of taking it up the stairs and into her room. After that ordeal, she set it down on her desk and set it up quickly, adjusting little levers and buttons and setting up the thread. Afterwards, she snatched the fabric that was in its best condition, a pale green with dark stripes running along it.

"Here, give me your paws," she said, and gently took her sister's paws and set them in the cloth to make the pattern. The pen she held traced over them, leaving a fair amount of space around the edges as a margin of error, and took the cloth from under Mabel's paws. Sable set it on the machine, and she began to sew. She worked quickly and diligently, an expert even though she had never touched a machine before, her hazel eyes flicking from left to right as she moved the cloth along.

Mabel watched with catlike interest, her beady eyes staring unblinking at her sister's newfound talent. She rubbed her paws together still, but she was so distracted that she hardly felt the frostbite any longer.

"There, it's finished. Try them on," Sable said, positively beaming at her creation. She watched as Mabel slipped the gloves onto her paws, but frowned when she heard her reaction.

"Sister! They're too big! My paws aren't big enough for these," Mabel laughed, and lifted her paws up to demonstrate. She was indeed right, Sable observed, as the glove fingers reached far from the ends of her own fingers, and the ends sagged and flopped around as Mabel moved her arms.

"Oh dear, I didn't do it right…" Sable sighed, and she moved to take the gloves from Mabel's paws, "I'll make another pair for you…"

"No, they're perfect, Sabley!" Mabel said, "I can grow into them. And until then, they'll make the perfect… earwarmers!" she said, and she popped the gloves onto her large ears, "What do you think? The height of fashion, am I right?"

"Oh yes, you look beautiful!" Sable laughed, "Maybe I should make a pair for myself. And maybe a pair for Tom and Redd, and… well, I'd make one for Pelly, but she has no ears to put them on…"

"It's going to be so popular," Mabel said, and she strutted down the hall, displaying the ear-warmers as a model. "We'll call it the Able Earwarmers, the best of winter wear…."

Their laughter was so loud it could be heard over the howling winter winds.

END.


End file.
